US President Donald Trump once again resorted to one of his favorite weapons, tariffs, on Saturday, threatening Canada with 100% tariffs if it signs a trade agreement with China.
In a post on Truth Social in which he reiterated his argument about the Chinese threat, the White House chief said that “if Canada signs a deal with China, a 100% tariff will be immediately imposed on all Canadian goods and products entering the United States.”
Trump added that if Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “thinks he’s going to turn Canada into a ‘drop-off port’ for China to send goods and products to the United States, he’s very wrong.”
In another message, he noted that “the last thing the world needs is for China to take over Canada” and affirmed: “That’s not going to happen, it’s not even close to happening!”
Carney has been one of the most vocal critics of the Trump Administration's foreign policy approach. In addition to his recent trip to Beijing, meeting with Xi Jinping, and signing a roadmap with China outlining 28 strategic cooperation measures , he delivered a scathing speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos that echoed many of the criticisms of Washington's course and, according to analysts, "overshadowed and annoyed" the president.
Speaking in Davos before Trump's inauguration, Carney spoke of a breakdown in the world order and stated that "middle powers must act together, because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu." He also warned of coercion by major powers, without mentioning the US president by name.
In the escalation against Carney, Trump went so far as to say that "Canada lives thanks to the United States," to which the prime minister responded that his nation can be an example that the world does not have to lean towards autocratic tendencies and that "Canada does not live thanks to the United States; it prospers because we are Canadians."
Trump, who has called the prime minister "Governor Carney," also withdrew his invitation to join his Peace Board, which has been rejected or viewed with suspicion by several governments and organizations that point to its incompatibility with the multilateral system or perceive it as an attempt to supplant the United Nations.
Since the beginning of his second term, along with his demands that the Panama Canal be returned to American control and that Greenland be controlled by Washington, Trump has stated that Canada should cede its sovereignty and become the 51st state of the U.S.
Initially, Canada followed the United States in imposing a 100% tariff on electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum, to which Beijing responded with 100% tariffs on Canadian canola oil and flour and 25% tariffs on pork and seafood. As the Trump administration intensified its pressure tactics and interventionist rhetoric, a distancing began, culminating in Carney's visit to the Asian giant to improve bilateral relations.
Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states , and hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of goods and services cross the border between the two countries every day. Sixty percent of U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada, as do 85 percent of U.S. electricity imports.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum, and uranium to the United States and has 34 critical minerals and metals, another of the assets that drive the actions of the current Administration in the White House.